“Qi!” Han Xueyou cried out, and the color drained from her face.
In comparison, Shen Qi appeared especially calm.
“I just helped you voice out what you couldn’t bring yourself to.”
Han Xueyou turned as pale as a ghost while staring at Shen Qi.
Shen Qi chuckled before reaching out to pinch Han Xueyou’s icy-cold cheek. “Why do you look so shocked?”
“D-Don’t say nonsense.” Han Xueyou pulled Shen Qi’s hand down while shaking her head desperately. “There’s nothing going on between Ye Moxuan and me. I am not in love with him! We aren’t love rivals; we are best friends!”
“Best friends…” Shen Qi repeated after her while lowering her head, and her voice became so soft that it was almost a whisper. “We are best friends, indeed, but I wouldn’t have expected for the both of us to fall for the same man, and that you would lie to me in the process.”
“I did not lie to you!” Han Xueyou panicked, and she dashed to Shen Qi’s side to hold onto her hand. “Qi, were you listening to some silly rumors? Was it Yan? Did she try to taint our friendship? You have to trust me, if it involves Ye Moxuan, I would never…” Han Xueyou explained hastily.
When Shen Qi looked up, she saw the pink stud earrings on Han Xueyou’s ears, gleaming under the sunlight; it felt like they were mocking her.
“Xueyou, do you know?” Shen Qi pulled her hand while looking into Han Xueyou’s eyes calmly. “I’ve seen that pair of pink stud earrings you are wearing now.”
That simple sentence caused Han Xueyou to stop dead in her movements.
She tried opening her mouth, as if she was about to say something to Shen Qi, but nothing came out from her.
Shen Qi grinned at her while speaking very calmly. “Feelings aren’t something that we can control, and so I will not blame you. However… similarly, I will never forgive you.”
With that, Shen Qi stood up without even sparing another glance at Han Xueyou. She focused on a faraway point outside of the shop before speaking in a dead tone.
“From now on, we are no longer best friends.”
Han Xueyou was stunned to the spot even after Shen Qi was long gone. Just when she wanted to chase after Shen Qi to explain herself, she realized with horror that Shen Qi was long gone.
Han Xueyou started panicking in that instant, and she had no idea what else to do. She didn’t expect Shen Qi to find out about this in such early stages. I was planning to hide things from her longer, and as long as I didn’t say anything, judging by Shen Qi’s personality, she shouldn’t have found out about it.
Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that she’d be as blunt as today.
Han Xueyou had no choice but to take her phone out to call Shen Qi. However, Shen Qi’s phone was switched off, and Han Xueyou could only start looking for her nearby because she was too anxious to think of anything else.
Han Xueyou couldn’t locate Shen Qi despite searching for her for a long time. Hence, she was left with no choice but to return home, but just then, she received an unexpected phone call from Xiao Su, claiming that Ye Moxuan wanted to meet her.
Just a second ago, Han Xueyou was worried sick, but the moment she learned that Ye Moxuan wanted to meet her, she forgot all about Shen Qi and the associated troubles. She asked for the venue in excitement and made her way there gleefully.
When she arrived at the agreed destination, Han Xueyou realized that Ye Moxuan was staring at her coldly. However, Han Xueyou approached him with a gentle and sweet smile anyway. “Moxuan, you wanted to see me?”
Xiao Su took a couple of steps backward reflexively when he saw Han Xueyou to maintain a distance from her.
Despite understanding what happened from the very beginning, he didn’t like this woman at all because he thought that she was revolting. He especially disliked the fact that she tried stealing her best friend’s husband.
Furthermore, she did it so blatantly, and she looked as if she would throw herself at Ye Moxuan each time she laid eyes on him.
Ye Moxuan did not answer her, and instead, he glanced at her swiftly. He immediately saw the pink stud earrings on her ears, and his eyes became steely as he grabbed onto her wrist viciously and yanked her to his side.
“Who allowed you to wear these stud earrings?”
His voice was as cold as ice, and it felt like a stab to Han Xueyou’s heart.
“Ouch, you’re hurting me!” Han Xueyou’s wrist turned red immediately under his iron grip, and her face turned pale in agony. However, Ye Moxuan didn’t look like he was planning to let go of her. He hissed through gritted teeth at her while glaring at her in fury, “Who gave you the permission to touch my things? Speak!”
Han Xueyou was in such pain that tears started rolling down her cheeks. “It fell out of your suit jacket the other night, and I really liked it, and that’s why—”
“Taking without permission is called stealing! Can’t a Young Miss of the Han family afford a pair of stud earrings?”
When Ye Moxuan saw the pair of stud earrings on Han Xueyou’s ears, he couldn’t help but feel as if the stud earring were badly soiled somehow.
Previously, when Shen Qi tried them on, Ye Moxuan thought that she looked exceptionally intricate and cute, but unexpectedly, she left without buying them. Hence, he returned to the shop and purchased the stud earrings, and he was looking for the right chance to give them to Shen Qi.
But this woman took them away first!
“I’m sorry!” Han Xueyou thought that her arm might break anytime soon, and her tears kept streaming down her cheeks, and so she was left with no choice but to apologize to Ye Moxuan profusely. “I truly am sorry. I really like this pair of stud earrings, and that was why I put them on. If you are angry, I will return them to you.”
With that, she reached out with her other hand to take the stud earrings off.
However, Ye Moxuan shoved her hand away while speaking in an icy tone. “No need. This pair of stud earrings are useless now even if you take them off.”
Han Xueyou froze mid-action when she heard that. She asked Ye Moxuan in bewilderment, “What do you mean?”
Xiao Su rubbed salt into the wound and commented, “It means that you’ve tainted these stud earrings. Honestly, who would have thought that the Young Miss of the Han family would be so vile? Apparently, they are allowed to take away things which belong to others without even asking for permission. Perhaps you aren’t the Young Miss of the Han family. Are you an impersonator?”
Initially, he was just mocking her, but that sentence dug deep into Han Xueyou’s heart. She stared viciously at Xiao Su before growling at him, “What nonsense are you saying?”
Xiao Su was shocked by her vicious glare. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Ye Moxuan glanced toward her, and Han Xueyou immediately switched back to her pitiful look. “Moxuan, I truly am sorry… I didn’t put on the stud earrings on purpose. I saw it when I woke up, and I thought that they looked especially pretty. I thought that you bought them for me, and that was why I… put them on. I honestly did not do it on purpose. If it displeases you, I will never touch your things again.”
With that, Han Xueyou took off the stud earrings hastily and placed them in Ye Moxuan’s hand.
“Let me return them to you. I promise you that I will never touch anything else before having your permission.”
Ye Moxuan felt disgusted the more he stared at the pink stud earrings in his hand. He smirked at her. “You already wore them; do you think I’d still want them?”
Han Xueyou’s face turned even paler, and her lips were now ghostly white as well. She bit her lower lip before speaking again in a quivering voice. “I understand now. You bought this pair of stud earrings for Qi, didn’t you? I really am sorry, and if I’d known that you were planning to give them to Qi, I wouldn’t have touched them!”
Han Xueyou started slapping herself across her face after saying that. “It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have showed up in front of you. I will go and meet Qi now to apologize to her!”
